Merela had zero points, 12 shots, and 10 hits through 10 games with the Lightning this year before being sent down to Syracuse (AHL) earlier this week. He has now been recalled as Conor Sheary suffered an upper-body injury on Tuesday and has been placed on the injured reserve.

Sheary logged just 35 seconds of ice-time on Tuesday before suffering the injury. The 31-year-old has one goal and two assists to his name through his first 12 games of the season. Look for Austin Watson to take Sheary's place in the Lightning lineup if he's unavailable for Thursday's game against Chicago.

Zach Bogosian will take Perbix's place as the Lightning do a bit of lineup rotation for the tail-end of their back-to-back. Perbix has registered three assists, 16 blocked shots, and five hits across 11 games this season.

With the Lightning playing their second game in as many nights, Tomkins will relieve temporary starter Jonas Johansson between the pipes on Tuesday. It's the third start of the year for the 29-year-old rookie who spent the last two seasons in the Swedish Hockey League. Tomkins will be looking for his first win of the season and will be hoping to improve on his .891 SV% and 3.61 GAA. He and the Lightning are slight road favourites at -130 over the Canadiens.

Johansson has been a workhorse for the Lightning with Andrei Vasilevskiy sidelined, starting nine of 11 games thus far, and will be the starter on Monday against the Toronto Maple Leafs. Expectations were low for Johansson coming into the season with a career average of 3.35 GAA and .886 SV% but has been a marvel between the pipes for the Lightning, posting a 2.87 GAA and .916 SV% in nine games (5-1-3). Johansson was busy in his only other matchup against the Maple Leafs this season, saving 48 of 52 shots in a 4-3 overtime loss on October 21st. The Lightning are +138 road underdogs against a Maple Leafs team that has lost four consecutive games (0-2-2), being outscored 16-9.

Johansson has been a workhorse for the Lightning with Andrei Vasilevskiy sidelined, starting nine of 11 games thus far, and appears to be the starter on Monday against the Toronto Maple Leafs. Expectations were low for Johansson coming into the season with a career average of 3.35 GAA and .886 SV% but has been a marvel between the pipes for the Lightning, posting a 2.87 GAA and .916 SV% in nine games (5-1-3). Johansson was busy in his only other matchup against the Maple Leafs this season, saving 48 of 52 shots in a 4-3 overtime loss on October 21st. The Lightning are +138 road underdogs against a Maple Leafs team that has lost four consecutive games (0-2-2), being outscored 16-9.

Tomkins will get his second start of the season after serving as backup to Jonas Johansson for the majority of time thus far. In his only NHL game, Tomkins allowed four goals on 33 shots in a 5-2 loss to the Ottawa Senators on October 15th. The Lightning will hope Tomkins fares more favourably against an easier assignment on Thursday as they take on the Columbus Blue Jackets, who rank 26th offensively (2.56 GF / GP) and have lost four consecutive games.

Johansson is quietly and surprisingly putting together one of the premiere early-season performances among NHL goaltenders. Coming off back-to-back shutouts, Johansson has a 7-4-1 record and has done his part filling in for the injured Andrei Vasilevskiy, with an impressive 2.56 GAA and .925 SV%. The 28-year-old journeyman has only started eight or more games in a season twice in his career, a number he will match tonight if he gets the nod against the Seattle Kraken and their fifth-worst ranked offence (2.22 GF/GP).

Johansson is quietly and surprisingly putting together one of the premiere early-season performances among NHL goaltenders. Coming off back-to-back shutouts, Johansson has a 7-4-1 record and has done his part filling in for the injured Andrei Vasilevskiy, with an impressive 2.56 GAA and .925 SV%. The 28-year-old journeyman has only started eight or more games in a season twice in his career, a number he will match tonight if he gets the nod against the Seattle Kraken and their fifth-worst ranked offence (2.22 GF/GP).

Johansson is coming off his best performance of the season, a 32-save shutout victory over the Carolina Hurricanes. Despite being a journeyman for most of his career and never starting more than 13 games in a single NHL season, Johansson is off to a great start with the Lightning as he continues to fill in for the injured Andrei Vasilevskiy. In six games thus far (3-1-2), Johansson has a 2.99 GAA and .917 SV%, significantly better than the 3.29 GAA and .892 SV% he has accumulated throughout his 41-game NHL career ( 14-14-6). The Lightning rank 12th-worst defensively (3.43 GA/GP) but will look to improve that total as they are -285 home favourites against a San Jose Sharks team averaging a league-worst 1.33 goals per game.

Johansson is coming off his best performance of the season, a 32-save shutout victory over the Carolina Hurricanes. Despite being a journeyman for most of his career and never starting more than 13 games in a single NHL season, Johansson is off to a great start with the Lightning as he continues to fill in for the injured Andrei Vasilevskiy. In six games thus far (3-1-2), Johansson has a 2.99 GAA and .917 SV%, significantly better than the 3.29 GAA and .892 SV% he has accumulated throughout his 41-game NHL career ( 14-14-6). The Lightning rank 12th-worst defensively (3.43 GA/GP) but will look to improve that total as they are -285 home favourites against a San Jose Sharks team averaging a league-worst 1.33 goals per game.

Johansson will be looking for redemption Tuesday after stopping 48 of 52 shots (.923 SV%) in a loss vs. Toronto in his previous start. The 28-year-old has been up-and-down when filling in for the injured Andrei Vasilevskiy, with his 2-1-2 record, .902 SV% and 3.58 GAA. He is expected to face the Carolina Hurricanes, who are in the midst of a two-game losing streak but rank second in the NHL in goals per game (4.5).

Johansson will be looking for redemption Tuesday after stopping 48 of 52 shots (.923 SV%) in a loss vs. Toronto in his previous start. The 28-year-old has been up-and-down when filling in for the injured Andrei Vasilevskiy, with his 2-1-2 record, .902 SV% and 3.58 GAA. He is expected to face the Carolina Hurricanes, who are in the midst of a two-game losing streak but rank second in the NHL in goals per game (4.5).

Johansson will continue his reign as the starting goalie for the Lightning as he is projected to get his fifth start in the six games on Saturday. The Lightning have uncharacteristically been outscored 20-17 in five games so far this season (2-2-1) and are doing their best to tread water with Andrei Vasilevskiy still sidelined for the foreseeable future. Johansson and the Lightning will face off against a Toronto Maple Leafs team that is coming off a disappointing 3-1 loss to the Florida Panthers and will be hungry to respond after an all-around sluggish start to the 2023-24 campaign (2-2-0).

Johansson allowed three goals on 31 shots (.903 SV%) for his second straight loss as he was downed by Buffalo in his previous start. The 28-year-old net-minder has struggled to fill the shoes of Andrei Vasilevskiy early on in 2023-24 as he is 1-1-1 with an .893 SV% and a 3.71 GAA. He takes on the Vancouver Canucks Thursday, who lost thier previous game to Philadelphia but are fifth in the NHL in goals per game (4.0) while being 29th in shots per game (24.3).